Officials announced that they awarded Öcalan as a response to the February 15 1999 conspiracy, which enters its 18th year in 2016. Participants of the ceremony also saluted the struggles of Öcalan and Kurdish people.

HDP parliamentarian Dilek Öcalan received Öcalan’s honorary citizenship award during the ceremony where municipal officials condemned the isolation of Öcalan. Officials highlighted that any peace not involving Öcalan would only be temporary, and condemned the Turkish state massacres in North Kurdistan. Naples mayor de Magistris saluted the people putting up a resistance in Kurdistan, and said that Naples is a town of peace that also fought against fascism.

Municipal board members, union members, lawyers, activists and the allies of Kurdish people attended a concert after the award ceremony, where six music bands performed to an audience of 500 people in Politeama theater hall.

Renowned cartoonist Zero Calcare drew a caricature on the resistance of Cızîr and İmralı during the concert, where photos from Cızîr and Kobanê were projected onto a screen throughout the night.